How to restore from Time Machine?

[iqwertyi]

Hi,

So Apple replaced my defective iMac. I backed up my iMac with Time Machine before returning it, so I thought I'd be fine.
My backup was from a Snow Leopard, upgraded to Lion and my data.

When I booted my new iMac, I tried the restore from Time Machine, but it didn't allow me since it said it was a different version. I'm guessing because the new mac didn't have the new Lion update.

So, I completed the setup as new, then did all the updates.

Now, I'm trying to restore from iMac.
Do I simply click on the "Macintosh HD" and hit restore?
Will this restore everything, from pictures, videos and applications previously installed?

I see a "Copy" window now. Been sitting like that for a couple of minutes.
says "Zero KB of 116 GB - estimated time remaining..."

So, am I doing this right?

 

[darster]

Did you use migration assistant? If not, use that, as it's pretty straight forward.

 

[iqwertyi]

Thank you so much.
I knew I should have just posted the question before attempting it myself.

I tried the Time Machine route (it made sense to me to try it this way) and it failed twice.

I'm running Migration Assistant now. It looks like it's transferring now.
Thanks again. I'll report back once the Migration has completed to see if all files (including apps) migrated properly.

Thanks!

 

[iqwertyi]

Migration Assistant just finished.

um... I don't see my photos in iPhoto? >.<

 

[rkaufmann87]

Migration Assistant just finished.

um... I don't see my photos in iPhoto? >.<

When you use Migration Assistant it creates another user account, log out of your account and log into the new user account to find your data. My recommendation would have been to use Setup Assistant, a cousin to Migration Assistant. The primary difference between the two is MA does not create an additional user account.

You can start over if you want using Setup Assistant, you will find directions in

http://web.me.com/pondini/AppleTips/SetupLion.html

I would recommend beginning to read where he discusses "Second chance......"

 

[iqwertyi]

Gah!

I guess that's how I should have done it. So much more confusing than I originally thought.

Now, if I look at my "User" list I have two users that's both me. and one of them is greyed out.

I hate it, I may have to redo this entire thing. I want it to be clean.
So if I boot the recovery, I can start all over again right? I can just copy my drive over again once done. But I have to say, not as "simple" as I thought.

Ok, if I reboot now (after I have created two users and copied all the files) and go into recovery and try the Setup Assistant, will it wipe everything? I want it to wipe everything and start this setup again from scratch.

Thanks

 

[techno96]

Just remember if you're missing data that you can manually go into your backup and get files out if necessary.

 

[iqwertyi]

Ok, so I'm willing to start this from scratch.
I have Lion on a USB.
How to I reinstall lion from scratch? When I go into recovery, I see an "install Lion" option, but clicking that says it downloads and installs lion. Well, I want to save a few hours and install from the USB I created. How do I do this?

Thanks.

 

[rkaufmann87]

Ok, so I'm willing to start this from scratch.
I have Lion on a USB.
How to I reinstall lion from scratch? When I go into recovery, I see an "install Lion" option, but clicking that says it downloads and installs lion. Well, I want to save a few hours and install from the USB I created. How do I do this?

Thanks.

Why don't you just go to your local Apple Store or AASP (whoever did the repair) and ask them for help restoring your data. It's pretty simple but to be honest you have made a mess of it. They can show you how to restore back to where you were prior to the HD replacement.

 

[iqwertyi]

Because it's too big for my small car (27" with box). And I'd have to borrow my brother's car.

At this point, I just want to start from scratch. If this was a PC, I'd known how to do this blindfolded, but I'm new to Mac. (no, I'm not saying Mac's are more complicated, I just don't know my way around a Mac. I love this beast!)